Lyr Req: Christmas in Washington (Steve Earle)

Subject: Christmas in Washington
From: kj...
Date: 21 Feb 02 - 12:06 AM

...would love to get the lyrics for this....i think it was written by Steve Earl???...but not sure.....heard Joan Baez sing it last night.....:) :) thanks....

kj

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in Washington
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 21 Feb 02 - 10:43 PM

It is by Steve Earle. Click here for the lyrics.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: Lyr Add: CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON (Steve Earle)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Feb 02 - 06:54 PM

Copied from Steve Earle's web site.

CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON
(Steve Earle)

It's Christmastime in Washington. The Democrats rehearsed,
Gettin' into gear for four more years, things not gettin' worse.
The Republicans drank whiskey neat and thanked their lucky stars.
They said, "He cannot seek another term. They'll be no more FDRs."
I sat home in Tennessee staring at the screen
With an uneasy feeling in my chest, and I'm wonderin' what it means.

CHO: So come back, Woody Guthrie. Come back to us now.
Tear your eyes from paradise and rise again somehow.
If you run into Jesus, maybe he can help you out.
Come back, Woody Guthrie, to us now.

I followed in your footsteps once, back in my travelin' days.
Somewhere I failed to find your trail. Now I'm stumblin' through the haze.
But there's killers on the highway now, and a man can't get around,
So I sold my soul for wheels that roll. Now I'm stuck here in this town. CHO.

There's foxes in the hen house, cows out in the corn.
The unions have been busted, their proud red banners torn.
To listen to the radio, you'd think that all was well.
But you and me and Cisco know it's going straight to hell.

So come back, Emma Goldman. Rise up, old Joe Hill.
The barricades are goin' up. They cannot break our will.
Come back to us, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.
We're marching into Selma as the bells of freedom ring. CHO.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in Washington
From:
Date: 24 Feb 02 - 07:45 PM

thank heavens someone clarified this..I was thinking of that sappy Christmas in the Northwest that someone sings...could not imagine Joan Baez singing it, unless perhaps on Christmas Eve under great duress..mg

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Christmas in Washington
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 01 Mar 05 - 05:43 PM

Thank you for posting this!

Lord help me I had no idea what this song title was when I searched the mudcat. I kept hearing the refrain in my head today like this "Come back Woody Guthrie..come back Old Joe Hill" and now I see I was merging two different parts of the chorus. Can this song really be from 1997?? Gosh it has that timeless sound to it! It's hard to believe a song this wisftul could have been written during such an "up" time for progressive such as Earle.

Well..I just love it and now that I have the lyrics I can try and teach it to my younger cousins. It has the same basic guitar picking pattern as Springsteen's "If I should fall behind" during the verses. Thank heaven Steve Earle didn't kill himself with substance abuse. He's doing some of his best work now. This song and "The Pilgrim" are two of my alltime favorite songs PERIOD.

TYVM Jim Dixon